The distance between the moon and Earth was 60,000 km 2.46 billion years ago. However, the moon is now slowly but alarmingly moving away. Together with the Milankovitch Cycles, this spells doom for Earth’s life.

We frequently underestimate the significance of the moon to Earth. Yes, in poetry, we may shower it with epithets and platitudes in succession. However, we frequently forget how essential it has been for the survival of life on Earth.

The moon’s role in maintaining Earth’s axis and position in the solar system in relation to the Sun is one of the main reasons why it is so important to life on Earth.
However, a new study has shown that the Moon is detaching from Earth more quickly than previously thought. People who even have a basic understanding of space and astronomy will be aware that both our solar system and the universe are expanding at a rapid rate. This literally means that the moon is ghosting Earth faster than the universe itself. If this is the case, it stands to reason that the distances separating two bodies in a solar system will change and most likely increase over time.

Read also: Beyond the moon: The most important space explorations to watch for in 2023 However, the moon appears to be moving away from Earth at a faster rate due to the Milankovitch cycle.

How do Milankovitch cycles work?
Milankovitch cycles simply refer to the minute differences in Earth’s axis and orbital shapes as it passes through the Sun, affecting how much sunlight reaches the planet. To put it in a very basic and straightforward way, these differences affect how much sunlight reaches the planet.

The long-term effects of variations in Earth’s movements on its climate are explained by Milankovitch cycles. The term was inspired by Serbian geophysicist and astrophysicist Milutin Milankovi. In the 1920s, he hypothesized that orbital forces, in conjunction with those exerted by the moon, had a significant impact on Earth’s climatic patterns, and that these orbital forces combined to produce cyclical variations in the intra-annual and latitudinal distributions of solar radiation at the surface.

Read also: According to NASA, Artemis 1 will enable humans to live and work on the Moon by the end of this decade. Milankovitch cycles are the cumulative effects of Earth’s movement changes on its climate over thousands of years.

The distance between the Moon and Earth is determined by these cycles’ duration and speed. Approximately 2.46 billion years ago, the moon was 60,000 kilometers closer to Earth, according to scientists.

Major repercussions for Earth: First and foremost, Earth’s days will get much longer. One of the most significant and obvious effects of the Moon’s separation from Earth is this.

Second, life on Earth may cease to exist and redevelop in a completely different manner if the Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth changes significantly.

Additionally, despite the fact that modern climate change is a man-made phenomenon, the effects of climate change, particularly global warming, are now more pronounced than ever before due to Milankovitch cycles.